Science Fiction

The storyline centers around the ideas and theories based on the current or future use of science and technology.

Shadow Run by AdriAnne Strickland and Michael Miller [Book 1 in the Kaitan Chronicles series]

Qole is not only the youngest starship captain ever, but is also talented at fishing for Shadow, a powerful but dangerous energy source. Unbeknownst to her, Nev, the newest member of her crew, is a prince who believes Qole could be useful to his home planet- so he plans to kidnap her. Before Nev’s scheme can be carried out to completion, it turns out that others have the same idea- others who are less concerned than Nev is with not letting Qole come to harm. Now the two must put aside their differences in order to keep Qole alive, and learn more about Shadow, and Qole’s strange connection to it.

Kassandra Black was an anonymous vigilante of justice. Until she was caught, and, with only weeks until her high school graduation, Kassandra was expelled and no longer accepted at Columbia University. Her great-uncle Brian works at Henley University, and if she helps him over the summer with his HEAR (Henley Engineering Anomalies Research) program, he might be able to get her into Henley instead. It turns out that the students in the program are there because Brian wants to test their possible ESP abilities, and Kassandra herself is one of the candidates. She scoffs at first, but it all ends up being unnervingly true, and when one of them is murdered, Kass must try to get to the bottom of all the secrets and lies.

Earth’s natural resources are nearly gone, so in order to survive, humans send crews to other planets to harvest their resources instead. Ishmael signs up to work on a ship called the Pequod that is going to the planet Cretacea to hunt ocean creatures, hoping to get enough money to get himself and his foster parents off of Earth before it’s completely unlivable. What the Pequod’s captain, Ahab, wants most is to kill the Great Terrafin, a beast few have seen and survived. One of these rare few is Ahab, whose leg was lost to the creature, and he offers a rich reward to whomever is able to spear the Great Terrafin.

The reader receives this story via various hacked documents. In the year 2575, control of the planet Kerenza is being disputed by two megacorporations that are quite literally waging war on each other. Kady just recently broke up with her boyfriend, Ezra, when Kerenza, where she lives, was invaded, and the news keeps getting worse. Kady, her mother, and Ezra are among those who escape on three ships, but their planet’s attacker is close behind. A plague starts sweeping the ships, mutating rapidly. The ships’ AI may be working against them. And no one seems to know exactly what’s happening, but Kady and Ezra are determined to find out, even though they’re barely speaking to each other.

Kyle is two years younger than his identical twin, Connor. This is because they were both genetically engineered, and their parents thought they might have a better chance of surviving if it were done this way. Connor seems to be good at everything, and Kyle knows he can never live up to that standard, so his motivation is low. It gets a shocking jumpstart, however, when Connor has a heart attack and dies on his eighteenth birthday, and Kyle finds out Connor isn’t the first genetically modified person to have this happen. In a race against the clock to save his own life and the lives of others like him, Kyle looks for information about a Dr. Mueller, who works at Genesis Innovations Laboratory, and who was responsible for the creation of Kyle, Connor, and all the other genetically modified kids whose lives mysteriously ended on their eighteenth birthdays.

Adam has muscular dystrophy, so he likes to escape to virtual reality games, where he still is able to run and jump, and forget for the moment that his condition will likely kill him within a few years. Adam’s father is a computer genius, and his program, Sigma, is out of control: it has hacked into government computers and is threatening to destroy humanity. Adam’s father had created a way to upload Adam’s mind digitally before he died, and decides this is the time to use it. So Adam and five other terminally ill teenagers leave their human bodies behind so their minds can be transferred to robot ones. These six must learn how to use their new bodies and fight Sigma to save the world.

The Armstrong Fancy Gifts Corporation, headed by conjoined twins Charles and Benjamin Armstrong, is trying to create utopia. But while utopia means an end to a lot of bad things (hunger, wars, etc.), it also means an end to free will. Enter BZRK, a group of teenagers fighting back. But the weapons in this fight are made of advanced nanotechnology with the power to hack a human brain. How do you know what’s real and what isn’t? Are your memories lying to you? Your senses? The stakes and costs of any war are enormous, but this one takes it to a new level.

Cassie has managed to survive the first four waves and is in the midst of the fifth wave. The only way to survive is to travel alone for aliens, disguised as humans, will kill at first sight. Cassie has accepted this fact until she runs into Evan Walker. He may be the key to helping her locate her brother.